Notes and Editorial Reviews

Gardiner takes a dramatic, incisive view of these masterpieces, with the Monteverdi Choir singing with pinpoint attack and exceptionally clean textures. In the hands of such an experienced choral conductor these works come up as new in their thrilling originality.

Another superb set of Haydn Masses from Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his magnificent Monteverdi Choir. It would be nice to think that Haydn penned a Mass in honour of the great Admiral Nelson but he finished what is now called the Nelson Mass before news of the British defeat of the French at Aboukir reached Vienna and the Mass appears to have acquired its nickname only after a visit by the Admiral and Lady Hamilton to the Esterhazy Court in 1800. Whatever theRead more associations, it's one of Haydn's finest creations and in the hands of such an experienced choral conductor as Gardiner it comes up as new in its thrilling originality.

– Gramophone [Record of the Month, 1/2003, reviewing the Nelsonmesse and the Theresien-Messe,
Philips 470286]

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The Masses also find Gardiner on incisive form... Gardiner directs a biting, crisp reading, with spotlit drums and trumpets and marginally less spring in the rhythm. ...Gardiner, with some extreme speeds is consistently crisp and fresh... The Philips recording is clear and well-balanced,...highlighting the pinpoint ensemble of Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir, with his excellent team of soloists, led by the boyish-sounding Joanne Lunn.

Gardiner adds to the attractions by choosing outstanding teams of soloists, and one specially notes the soprano for the Harmoniemesse is the young, newly recognised British singer, Joanne Lunn, with her fresh, at times almost boyish tone nicely set against the creamy contralto of Sara Mingardo... Gardiner takes a dramatic, incisive view of these last two of the Masses, which in many ways can be said to continue Haydn's symphonic sequence. So in the Harmoniemesse the Kyrie begins with a weighty slow introduction that might have been devised for a symphony, while in the Schöpfungmesse (or 'Creation Mass'), the gentle setting of the 'Kyrie eleison' gives way to a brisk, outward-going setting of the central 'Christe eleison'. Each Mass characteristically ends with an exuberant setting at high speed of the final 'Dona nobis pacem', and it is notable in both masses, each involving an orchestra larger than usual, that in his call for peace Haydn introduces martial music with trumpets and drums. Gardiner more than most seems to relate that military flavour to what Beethoven so dramatically, and much more specifically, developed in the 'Dona nobis pacem' of the Messa solemnis... Gardiner is...incisive, with the Monteverdi Choir singing with pinpoint attack and exceptionally clean textures, helped by warm but relatively transparent recording quality...

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: ( 1 Customer Review )

Purchase makes perfect!October 4, 2013By Steve B. (Hawksburn, Vic)See All My Reviews"Preparing for a performance of the Theresienmesse, I was recommended this optimum recording the best of the bunch. The JEG and the MC are exemplary as usual and I look forward to eventually singing the other 5 masses as well. This CD is the benchmark to behold. Bravo!"Report Abuse

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